CITYWIDE

COUNCIL MEMBER CALLS JEFFERSON ‘SLAVE-HOLDING PEDOPHILE’

City Council Member Charles Barron incited a small controversy yesterday when he complained during a council meeting because he was seated next to a large bronze statute of founding father Thomas Jefferson. Mr. Barron called Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence and American’s third president, a “slave holding pedophile.”

A spokeswoman for the council, Maria Alvarado, dismissed Mr. Barron’s suggestion that he was intentionally seated in the spot. Council Member James Oddo said later he didn’t take Mr. Barron’s complaint seriously. He also said Jefferson’s record speaks for itself. If Mr. Barron wants to criticize him, that’s his business, Mr. Oddo said.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

STATEWIDE

STATE LAUNCHES WEB SITE TRACKING HOSPITAL PROCEDURES

ALBANY – Patients across New York State will be able to check how their local hospitals performed on a number of surgical procedures and other treatments starting today.

The state Health Department is set to launch a long-awaited Web site rating hospitals, almost a decade after a law was passed requiring the state to do so.

Some of the measures tracked will include treatment of heart attacks and pneumonia and the prevention of surgical infections.

The Web site comes a decade after a law was passed requiring the state to issue report cards tracking hospital procedures. The department now only tracks three types of common cardiac procedures.

Citing studies that show public scrutiny improves the quality of care, critics have long said the Health Department should expand its reporting of hospital procedures.

– Associated Press

PATAKI SEEKS 1-YEAR DELAY IN ENDING INDIANS’ TAX-FREE CIGARETTES

ALBANY – Governor Pataki plans to delay by at least a year enforcement of the state law that would end tax-free sales of cigarettes by Indian retailers to non-Indians. Mr. Pataki’s effort to delay enforcement of the law is part of his 2006-07 budget proposal to the Legislature. That proposal includes raising the state’s cigarette tax $1, to $2.50 a pack.

After backing down from attempts to collect the taxes in the late 1990s amid outbreaks of tribal violence, Mr. Pataki has avoided a direct confrontation over the issue. Instead, his administration has tried to negotiate settlements with tribes involving land claims, casinos, and other issues in which the state seeks extra payments from tribes not collecting sales taxes.

“I believe if it’s the law, we should enforce it,” state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said yesterday. “Obviously there are legitimate positions on the other side … but we have to move forward in enforcing tax laws, especially when there is a proposal to increase the tax on cigarettes sold elsewhere because there will be an impact on both black market behavior and illegal sales.”

Mr. Spitzer, the only announced Democratic candidate for governor, said he supports the law that calls for enforcement of tax law on sales conducted on Indian lands.

– Associated Press

EHRENREICH TO BACK TASINI CAMPAIGN AGAINST CLINTON

The feminist writer and social critic Barbara Ehrenreich is backing an anti-war candidate, Jonathan Tasini, in his Democratic primary challenge to Senator Clinton, Mr. Tasini’s campaign said yesterday. Ms. Ehrenreich, the author of the best seller “Nickel and Dimed” and a former columnist for Time magazine, wrote a fundraising letter on Mr. Tasini’s behalf, saying “his campaign is putting pro-war Democrats on notice that Democratic voters will not continue to support them uncritically.”

Mr. Tasini’s candidacy has drawn support from several anti-war advocates, including Cindy Sheehan, but Ms. Ehrenreich is the first to offer a full-fledged endorsement. A former labor leader, Mr. Tasini launched his bid against Mrs. Clinton last month, criticizing her refusal to support an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

HIGH WINDS BLAMED IN TWO DEATHS

WHITE PLAINS – High winds knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of customers in the Northeast yesterday and wreaked havoc for commuters, blowing trees across railroad tracks, overturning tractor-trailers, and making for wild ferry rides.

More than 440,000 homes and businesses lost power, and several airports reported delays of two hours or more. The wind was blamed for at least two deaths when trees fell on cars.

– Associated Press